Safaricom says it plans to recruit 62 interns by January 2017 as it progresses its agenda to woo more women to the technology field but we think it could do more than that.

The giant telco which was trading today noon at Shs 20 per share (SCOM 20.50) recently said in its true economic value report its activities helped generate over 845,846 jobs in Kenya and placed the firm’s true value at KShs413.8 billion, 10.86 times bigger than the KShs38.1 billion net profit for year to March 2016 and 4.45 times the total amount of transaction fees it earned in the same period.

With KShs38.1 billion net profit most of it repatriated, we believe the firm and it’s majority shareholders should give back more to get women in tech, especially those in marginalized areas. But business is business.

Though the internships will target 40 female university students under its Women In Technology initiative, with a further 18 internships open to all university applicants and an additional four internships that will be filled through the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya, it could still do more.

The firm’s ratio of female to male engineers was 9% in 2013 and it’s at a sad 20% today. It’s a good sign as the firm is not giving up. More than 320 students have undergone the technology Internships, with Safaricom absorbing 22 former interns to full-time positions with more than 30 others employed by other industry players.

The 67 internships are open to Kenyan applicants, preferably those in their 3rd to 5th year of study in ICT related fields including Computer Science, Information Technology, Electrical and Electronics Engineering or Telecommunications Engineering. Applicants must not have graduated. Applications for all internships close on 28th November 2016